Community Forums

  Many towns, counties, states and provinces have community forums.  People post queries with the hope that a local person or someone who used to live in the area, will have the answer they're looking for.  Forums are usually broken into categories.  Genealogy is usually one of the categories.  Try it: Google your place of interest, such as 'Tredegar forum' to see if your location has one.  After posting a query, make sure you tick the box that says you'd like to be notified by email if subsequent posts are made on the same topic.

 On 26 September 2010 I posted the following notice in the Tredegar, Monmouthshire genealogy forum:

 My ggmother's GRAY family lived in Tredegar.  In her photo album there are two photos of "Hannah Filer".  The stamp on the back is "Columbia Medallion Studios" Chicago, Illinois [USA].
 Hannah may have been Eliza's cousin who was born 1868 in Tredegar, the daughter of Samuel FILER & Mary BRIGHT.  Hannah's siblings may have been Sarah Ann, Elizabeth and Samuel - all born Tredegar.
Hannah may have married Thomas POWELL in Tredegar in 1892 and their children may be William, Gladys, Thomas, & Mary.
 I have put this information together from document research and it is not confirmed that this is 'my' Hannah Filer.
 Because of the studio photo I am assuming the family emigrated to the US.

 I would like to get in touch with anyone who knows anything about Hannah Filer and her family.

 I received 17 replies.  People gave recollections of the family.  One woman sent the marriages of Hannah Filer and her two sisters.  Someone walked to the cemetery on a very blustery day to check the headstone that he thought might connect.  It does.  He sent a photo.  Someone told me about an additional Filer child who died in between the census.  Another person walked to the cemetery and gave explicit instructions on how to find the headstone.  

  I don't live in Wales so this area knowledge is priceless.  I am amazed, humbled and so grateful for the kindness of people who go out of their way to assist.

    Unfortunately no one had a photo of Hannah Filer.  The search continues.

Research Approach to Hannah Filer

back of Hannah Filer photo

 Remember I said there is one photo in Eliza's album that has a name?  Pictured is the back of the photo.  Pencilled lightly on the left hand side is 'Hannah Filer'.  Was this a doodle or was it the name of the person in the photo? 

 I have three Hannah Filer's in my family tree during the decades the photo album represents , so which one could she be?  Is Filer a maiden name or a married name?  How do I find out?  How do I prove it?

 The photographer's logo says Medallion Studios, Chicago, Illinois.  Nice clue but this threw me for a loop because as far as I knew all my Hannah Filers lived out their lives in Wales.  I was flummoxed. 

 I traced all three of my Hannah Filer contenders by traditional paper research:

      1)     Birth / baptism records
2)      Census
3)      Marriage records
4)      Death records

     All events took place in Wales.

blowup of Columbia Medallion Studios logo

Other research:

    1)  I studied the photo for clues about photo date by hair style and clothing. 

     2)  I researched Medallion Studios in Chicago, Illinois to find out when they were operating and at what locations.  Sometimes people have photos taken while on vacation.

     3)  I looked at US census for Hannah Filer.  Of course was Filer a maiden name or a married name?

     4)  I contacted Tredegar Library to see if they had any references to the Filer families.

5)  I searched three subscription websites, Ancestry, FindmyPast, and MyHeritage.  Ancestry listed a person who was researching a Hannah Filer.  I sent him a message.

6)  I checked Google Images

7)  I used Google Lens (more about that in a later post).

8)  I checked 'Dead Fred' at https://deadfred.com/ to see if anyone had posted a photo of this person. 

9) I searched two wonderful free sites, Lost Cousins https://www.lostcousins.com/ and FamilySearch   https://www.familysearch.org/search/

10)  I Googled Hannah Filer every way I could think of

11) I searched two sites that list millions of graves around the world: Billion Graves  https://www.https//billiongraves.com/ and Findagrave https://www.findagrave.com/.

12)  I posted a query and photo on the old Rootsweb, which was a free message forum and searchable family database.  Then Ancestry bought it and have been whittling away at some of the very useful features.

13) My Hannah Filers lived in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales so in 2010 I posted on the Tredegar forum https://www.tredegar.co.uk/forum/forum asking if anyone had information about the Filer families.   Several very helpful people replied.  One lady even went to the local library to obtain information on Filer marriages.  How nice is that.

 No luck for a photo.  Dead ends.  Now what?